1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a print control method and a print control apparatus of a host computer and the like for transferring image data to a printer, and relates as well to a memory medium used by the print control method and print control apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, when image data is printed using, for example, a printer connected to a host computer, the host computer receives information as to how the printer operates, error information relating to errors such as clogging or jamming of print paper, shortage of ink and toner, and the like from the printer, and displays the received information and the like on the display unit or the like of the host computer. The host computer notifies a user of a printing status by it.
Even if the printer does not execute a printing operation, the host computer receives information such as the on-line and off-line status of the printer, whether a printer cover is opened or closed, and the like from the printer as well as displays the received information and the like on the display unit or the like of the host computer.
As described above, in order to acquire the status information of the printer, the host computer transmits a command to the printer to cause it to create the status information, further requests the printer to transmit the status information, converts the status information transmitted therefrom in response to the request into a form of characters, graphics and the like which can be displayed and displays them on the display unit and the like of the host computer. In this case, the host computer instructs the printer to transmit the status information at a preset time interval.
Conventionally, when image data is printed using, for example, a printer connected to a host computer, printed, the user selects the printer through application software or the like loaded on the host computer, and image drawing commands according to the printer are transmitted to the printer. At the time, reference is not made to the type information of the printer (i.e., the information identifying its type) connected to the host computer and what image drawing commands the printer recognizes, in many cases.
However, print control apparatuses of the conventional host computer and the like have the following problems.
First, even if a printer executes a printing operation and the status of the printer changes after a short time, the host computer requests the transmission of status information to the printer only at the preset time interval. If the preset time interval is longer than the interval over which the status of the printer changes, there arises the problem that a time lag is caused between the actual status of the printer and the status of the printer display on the display unit or the like of the host computer.
If the time interval at which the host computer requests the transmission of the status information to the printer is preset to a shorter time interval to avoid the above time lag, the host computer must process the status information from the printer at the short time interval even if the status of the printer changes relatively little, or slowly, such as when the printer is not carrying out printing operations. Thus, there is caused a problem that the efficiency of the host computer and the printer is degraded.
When the user makes a mistake in the setting of printer and designates a printer which is different from an actually connected printer in the printing operation he or she executes through application software or the like, there is a problem not only that image drawing commands which cannot be recognized by the printer are transmitted and a normal print result cannot be obtained, but also that ink, toner and the like are wasted.
To avoid the above problem, it is possible not to transmit image drawing commands if the type information of a printer connected to the host computer does not coincide with the type information of a printer selected by the user through application software or the like, but this causes the problem that the image drawing commands are not transmitted even if there is another type of printer connected which can recognize image drawing commands similar to the above image drawing commands and printing therefore could be executed normally by the lather printer; nonetheless, the user must again select a printer and execute printing operation, which renders printing unnecessarily troublesome.
Further, there can be contemplated a method such that when an image drawing command set which can be recognized by a printer connected to the host computer is compared with an image drawing command set intended to be transmitted to the printer, and it is found that they coincide with each other, image drawing commands are transmitted even if the type of the printer does not coincide with the type of a printer which is assumed by the image drawing commands to be transmitted. With this method, however, there arises a problem that when image drawing commands which are specific to the type of a printer selected by the user is used as a part of image data, the part is not properly printed.
A first object of the present invention made in view of the aforesaid problems is to provide a print control method and a print control apparatus capable of recognizing the status information of a printer, selecting a time interval at which the transmission of the status information is suitably requested of the printer, from among a plurality of time intervals which are preset in accordance with the status information of the printer, reducing a time lag between the change of status of the printer and the status information of the printer displayed by a host computer or the like as well as avoiding the deterioration of performance of the host computer and the like and the printer.
A second object of the present invention is to provide a print control method and a print control apparatus capable of recognizing what type a connected printer is, and the information of an image drawing command set to be recognized, controlling whether image drawing commands are to be transmitted or not depending upon whether or not the type of connected printer coincides with the type of printer designated by the user for the printing operation and whether or not the image drawing command set of the connected printer coincides with the image drawing command set which is intended to be transmitted, avoiding the transmission of improper image drawing commands to the printer and ensuring that proper image drawing commands are transmitted to the printer.
A third object of the present invention is to provide a memory medium capable of smoothly controlling the print control apparatus.
To achieve the first object, a print control method according to one aspect of the invention transfers image data to a printer as follows. A status request setting command is transmitted to the printer to cause it to create status information indicating the position status. The printer is requested to transmit the status information, which is received by the other party (i.e., the host computer or the like). A time interval at which the transmission of the status information is requested of the printer is controlled in accordance with the operating status of the printer.
In that print control method, the time interval control step can be performed such that the time interval is controlled in accordance with an error status of the printer.
Also, to achieve the first object, according to a print control apparatus of another aspect of the invention, a print control apparatus transfers image data to a printer by performing the method indicated above, employing suitable means for the various steps.
To achieve the second object, a print control method according to another aspect of the invention transfers image data to a printer as follows. Type information indicating what type the printer is, is acquired from the printer. The model name of the printer, included in the type information, is compared with a model name which is assumed by image drawing commands which are intended to be transmitted to the printer. The image drawing commands are transmitted to the printer or not, in accordance with the result of comparison of the model names.
Also, to achieve the second object, a print control method according to another aspect of the invention transfers image data to a printer as follows. Again, type information indicating what type the printer is, is acquired from the printer. That information includes type information indicating image drawing command set recognized by the printer; that is compared with the type information of image drawing commands which are intended to be transmitted to the printer. The image drawing commands are transmitted to the printer, or not, in accordance with the result of comparison of the command sets.
To achieve the second object, a print control method for transferring image data to a printer comprises acquiring the type information of the printer therefrom, comparing the model name of the printer (which is included in the type information acquired from the printer) with a model name which is assumed by image drawing commands which are intended to be transmitted to the printer, comparing the type information of an image drawing command set (which is included in the type information acquired from the printer) recognized by the printer with the type information of image drawing commands which are intended to be transmitted to the printer, and selecting an image page which can be recognized by the printer when the model name acquired from the printer does not coincide with the model name which is assumed by the image drawing commands which are intended to be transmitted to the printer and the type information of the image drawing command set which is recognized by the printer coincides with the type information of the image drawing commands which are intended to be transmitted to the printer.
To achieve the second object, a print control apparatus for transferring image data to a printer comprises type information acquisition means for acquiring the type information of the printer therefrom; model name comparison means for comparing the model name of the printer included in the type information acquired from the printer with a model name which is assumed by image drawing commands which are intended to be transmitted to the printer; and command transmission control means for controlling whether the image drawing commands are transmitted to the printer or not in accordance with the result of comparison of the model names.
To achieve the second object, a print control apparatus for transferring image data to a printer comprises type information acquisition means for acquiring the type information of the printer therefrom; command set comparison means for comparing the type information of an image drawing command set which is included in the type information acquired from the printer and recognized by the printer with the type information of image drawing commands which are intended to be transmitted to the printer; and command transmission control means for controlling whether the image drawing commands are transmitted to the printer or not in accordance with the result of comparison of the command sets.
To achieve the second object, another print control apparatus for transferring image data to a printer comprises type information acquisition means for acquiring the type information of the printer therefrom; model name comparison means for comparing the model name of the printer which is included in the type information acquired from the printer with a model name which is assumed by image drawing commands intended to be transmitted to the printer; command set comparison means for comparing the type information of image drawing commands set included in the type information acquired from the printer and recognized by the printer with the type information of image drawing commands intended to be transmitted to the printer; and page selection means for selecting an image page which can be recognized by the printer when the model name acquired from the printer does not coincide with the model name of a printer which is assumed by the image drawing commands intended to be transmitted to the printer and the type information of the image drawing command set which is recognized by the printer coincides with the type information of the image drawing commands intended to be transmitted to the printer.
To achieve the third object, a memory medium in which a program for controlling print control apparatus for transferring image data to printer is stored comprises a command transmission module of a command transmission step for transmitting a status request setting command to the printer to cause it to create the status information thereof; a status information request module of a status information request step for requesting the transmission of the status information of the printer thereto; a status information reception module of a status information reception step for receiving the status information transmitted from the printer; and a time interval control module of a time interval control step for controlling a time interval at which the transmission of the status information is requested to the printer in accordance with an operating status of the printer.
To achieve the third object, a memory medium in which a program for controlling a print control apparatus for transferring image data to a printer is stored comprises a type information acquisition module of a type information acquisition step for acquiring the type information of the printer therefrom; a model name comparison module of a model name comparison step for comparing the model name of the printer included in the type information acquired from the printer with a model name which is assumed by image drawing commands which is intended to be transmitted to the printer; and a command transmission control module of a command transmission control step for controlling whether the image drawing commands are transmitted to the printer or not in accordance with the result of comparison of the model names.
To achieve the third object, a memory medium in which a program for controlling a print control apparatus for transferring image data to a printer is stored comprises a type information acquisition module of a type information acquisition step for acquiring the type information of the printer therefrom; a command set comparison module of a command set comparison step for comparing the type information of an image drawing command set which is included in the type information acquired from the printer and recognized by the printer with the type information of image drawing commands which are intended to be transmitted to the printer; and a command transmission control module of a command transmission control step for controlling whether the image drawing commands are transmitted to the printer or not in accordance with the result of comparison of the command sets.
To achieve the fourth object, a memory medium in which a program for controlling a print control apparatus for transferring image data to a printer is stored comprises a type information acquisition module of a type information acquisition step for acquiring the type information of the printer therefrom; a model name comparison module of a model name comparison step for comparing the model name of the printer which is included in the type information acquired from the printer with a model name which is assumed by image drawing commands intended to be transmitted to the printer; a command set comparison module of a command set comparison step for comparing the type information of image drawing commands set included in the type information acquired from the printer and recognized by the printer with the type information of image drawing commands intended to be transmitted to the printer; and a page selection module of a page selection step for selecting an image page which can be recognized by the printer when the model name acquired from the printer does not coincide with the model name which is assumed by the image drawing commands intended to be transmitted to the printer and the type information of the image drawing command set which is recognized by the printer coincides with the type information of the image drawing commands intended to be transmitted to the printer.